I’ve been blind my entire life, so blindness has never been something I “adjusted” to, it’s all I’ve ever known. Growing up, I was the kid who couldn’t see, but that never stopped me from wanting to play sports. Soccer, basketball, whatever game was happening at school, I always wanted to be part of it. My vision never felt like a reason not to play, even if it meant breaking a few pairs of glasses along the way.
My vision condition is complicated and still not fully understood. At one point, doctors thought I had Leber Congenital Amaurosis, but over time my diagnosis became less clear. I have tumors in my eyes that bleed and affect my vision, which means I receive eye injections every six to eight weeks to control the bleeding. The results help in the short term. I’ve been told I’m the only person in Canada with this specific condition, which really highlights how different every blind person’s vision can be.
Most of the vision I have left is in my left eye. My right eye only has light perception. In my left eye, I see floaters that drift through my central and peripheral vision, changing depending on where I’m looking.
Sports have always been a big part of my life, but hockey became especially important to me at a young age, my parents put my brother and I in traditional skills lessons. I was introduced to blind hockey through a Try Skating event run by Courage Canada in the Halton Region, where I grew up. I was around five or six years old when I first stepped onto the ice with blind hockey, and that was where I met Mark DeMontis and Matt Morrow for the first time. There are pictures proving how tiny I was in that jersey!
My first Blind Hockey National Tournament was in 2018, and I’ve attended every national tournament since. As I gained experience, I began playing regularly with the Toronto Ice Owls. When I moved to Ottawa for school, I briefly skated with the local blind hockey program there before eventually returning to Toronto. Now, when I’m back in the city, I’m on the ice nearly every weekend with the Ice Owls.
Since 2023, I’ve been playing consistently at the adult level, attending development camps, regional tournaments like Easterns and Westerns, and continuing to grow as a player.
One of my strongest early hockey memories is skating with Mark DeMontis. We used to race around the rink together, completely focused on skating and having fun. That relationship has lasted far beyond the ice. In recent years, as I’ve started developing Blind Basketball Canada, Mark has become a mentor to me. We’ve had many conversations about starting a nonprofit organization, building a sport from the ground up, and learning what to do—and what not to do—along the way. My goal is to one day help blind basketball in Canada grow to the level blind hockey has reached.
During a transitional period in my life, I volunteered with Canadian Blind Hockey. I wasn’t sure what direction I was heading, but I knew I wanted to contribute to something meaningful. I reached out to help where I could and spent several weeks assisting with outreach leading up to a national tournament. Seeing the turnout—fans in the stands for every division and every game—was incredibly rewarding. Watching how much the organization has grown since my first tournament in 2018 made me proud to be part of the community.
Blind hockey has helped shape who I am, not just as an athlete but as a person. It taught me the importance of community, mentorship, and giving back. Those lessons are now guiding me as I work to create new opportunities for blind and visually impaired athletes through blind basketball, while continuing to skate, compete, and stay connected to the blind hockey community that gave me so much.
If you want to get in touch with Eli to learn more about Blind Basketball, contact elib@blindbasketball.com
